Scallops and other shellfish live on all bottom of waters of 20-90 fathoms deep. Traditionally, fishermen have used large, heavy collection bags to drag the bottom and collect the scallops. Examples of such devices are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,684,549 (commonly known as "the New Bedford drag"), 3,113,389, 3,084,309, 3,608,217, and 4,646,448. Typically, these drags consists of a frame and some type of steel bag or basket that is attached to the frame. These drags are heavy to ensure that they remain on the bottom to obtain the largest catch. Because the devices are heavy, they require large boats to drag the devices on the bottom, and a considerable amount of fuel to operate the boats. An improved design, which reduces the fuel consumption on boats, is shown in U.S.Pat. Nos. 4,112,602, (apparatus) and 4,216,595 (method). This device uses a lightweight net material attached to a heavy frame to reduce the weight of the drag. Also, the method patent teaches a parallel method of dragging using winches, while the boat remains stationary. This method also conserves fuel. Although an improvement, the device suffers from a common fault that every device discussed above has.
From the earliest drags to the most modern, the method of emptying the bag remains the same, i.e., the entire drag must be brought aboard and the rear end of the bag is lifted allowing the catch to spill out of the open mouth of the drag. There are two inherent problems with this method of collection and they are inherent in every design discussed above. First, the operation is dangerous because the drags often weigh thousands of pounds. For example, the instant invention weighs approximately 650 pounds. An eight foot "New Bedford" type drag weighs approximately 1,200 pounds and a 16 foot "New Bedford" drag weighs between 3,500 and 5,000 pounds.
Workers handling the drags are often injured when they are struck by the heavy nets and frames. U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,217 attempts to mitigate this danger by producing an unloading jig that holds the catching basket and dumps it, lessening the danger, but not solving the second problem.
The second problem with the steel drags is that by dragging the heavy bags across the sea bed, often at 6-7 knots, hundreds of scallops not picked up in the net are killed. The National Fisherman, for example, cited the Research Department of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, of Woods Hole, Mass., which reported that the so-called "New Bedford" drag kills one pound of shellfish for every pound caught. This problem is not limited to the "New Bedford" drag, as all open mouth steels drags discussed above operate in the same manner.
In addition to safety and kill problems, the steel bag drags require a considerable amount of fuel to use. For instance, some representative examples using the "New Bedfor" drag are provided.
Boat 1: 105' in lenght, 23' wide, pulling two 16' New Bedford drags, will burn approximately 30,000 gallons of fuel in one month or 1,000 gallons per day, operating at 6-7 knots.
Boat 2: 80' long, 18' wide, pulling two 9 foot New Bedford drags, will use 400 gallons or more, depending on the weather. Average speed 6-7 knots.
Boat 3: 70' long 16-18' wide, pulling two 8' New Bedford drags will use 300-375 gallons per day, dependig on the weather. Average speed 6-7 knots.
In contrast, using the instant invention, one needs a smaller boat and can operate at much slower speeds. For example, a 58' long, 18' wide boat, pulling one 12 foot bag will use 70 gallons per day at an average speed of 3.5 knots.
It is estimated that if 2 drags were used, fuel consumption would be between 70 and 120 gallons per day at an average speed of 3.5 knots.